International

Iran extends the vote in the presidential elections until midnight

Iran extended this Friday until midnight the voting time of the early presidential elections after the death of the previous president, Ebrahim Raisí, in elections without a clear favorite.

“Due to the influx of citizens in the presidential elections, the voting time in all schools in the country is extended until 00:00 hours,” said the Iranian Electoral Commission, according to the IRNA agency.

Previously, the Iranian authorities had extended the initial closing time twice from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., a common practice in the elections of the Persian country.

Around 58,000 polling stations opened their doors at 08:00 in the morning, local time (04:30 GMT) throughout the country, where more than 61 million people are called to the polls.

The favorite candidates are the conservative pragmatic Mohamad Baqer Qalibaf, the ultra-conservative Saeed Jalili and the reformist Masoud Pezeshkian to succeed President Ebrahim Raisí, who died in a helicopter crash in May.

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Data from local polls point to a possible second round within a week, given that it seems that no candidate will achieve 50% of the votes.

The results are expected to be announced tomorrow, Saturday at noon.

The Iranian president has decision-making power in national matters and to a lesser extent in foreign and security policy in Iran, where the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, serves as head of state with vast powers.

As is traditional, Khamenei voted first thing in the morning in front of the television cameras and called again to participate in the elections.

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“The continuation, strength, dignity and honor of the Islamic Republic before the world depends on the participation of the people,” said the highest political and religious authority of the country.

Among the voters reigns, however, skepticism and apathy in the midst of an economy weighed down by 40% inflation, a devalued rial and 20% youth unemployment.

To this is added the disenchantment of many Iranians, especially young people, with the Islamic Republic in the face of the lack of social freedoms, especially the imposition of the Islamic veil, a hot issue since the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022 after being arrested for not wearing it well, which provoked strong protests.

This apathy among the 61 million voters worries the Islamic Republic, which attaches great importance to participation in the elections as a sign of its legitimacy and popular support.

In the parliamentary elections of March, the lowest turnout was recorded in the 45 years of the Islamic Republic, when only 41% of the electorate went to the polls, while in the 2021 presidential elections they voted 48%.

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International

Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.

Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.

However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.

International

Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.

“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.

The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.

His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”

International

Miyazaki’s style goes viral with AI but at what cost?

This week, you may have noticed that everything—from historical photos and classic movie scenes to internet memes and recent political moments—has been reimagined on social media as Studio Ghibli-style portraits. The trend quickly went viral thanks to ChatGPT and the latest update of OpenAI’s chatbot, released on Tuesday, March 25.

The newest addition to GPT-4o has allowed users to replicate the distinctive artistic style of the legendary Japanese filmmaker and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away). “Today is a great day on the internet,” one user declared while sharing popular memes in Ghibli format.

While the trend has captivated users worldwide, it has also highlighted ethical concerns about AI tools trained on copyrighted creative works—and what this means for the livelihoods of human artists.

Not that this concerns OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which has actively encouraged the “Ghiblification”experiments. Its CEO, Sam Altman, even changed his profile picture on the social media platform X to a Ghibli-style portrait.

Miyazaki, now 84 years old, is known for his hand-drawn animation approach and whimsical storytelling. He has long expressed skepticism about AI’s role in animation. His past remarks on AI-generated animation have resurfaced and gone viral again, particularly when he once said he was “utterly disgusted” by an AI demonstration.